The Nuggets made 10 of their first 12 shots and they ran off to a 134-115 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

They will reach the postseason if they win their last two games.

”At this time of the year, it’s all about finding a way to get wins,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said.

”We’re playing `Get-It-Done’ basketball. We’re getting it done. Going into tonight, we’d been playing good defense. We controlled the game, won all four quarters, another big step in the right direction.”

Will Barton scored 31 points and Nikola Jokic added 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as the Nuggets posted their fifth straight win to pull into a tie with the Minnesota Timberwolves for eighth place in the Western Conference with two games to play. Both teams are 45-35.

The Nuggets finish the regular season at home against Portland on Monday night.

”I think overall – offensively, defensively, controlling our turnovers, I think we’re playing overall our best basketball,” Paul Millsap said. ”Not our best offense we’ve played all year, not necessarily our best defense, but to be a good team you have to have balance.”

It all sets up for the Nuggets’ season-ending game against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis on Wednesday night. Minnesota, which holds the tiebreaker over the Nuggets, hosts Memphis on Monday night.

Meanwhile, the injury-riddled Clippers were eliminated from the playoff race. The Clippers suffered their fourth loss in five games, falling to 42-38, 2 1/2 games out of eighth place with two to play. The elimination ends a run of six consecutive postseason appearances for the Clippers, who previously missed the playoffs in 2010-11.

”I don’t think I have been more proud of a group, maybe ever, than I have been of this group,” said Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who has been forced by injuries to field 35 starting lineups. ”We have asked a lot of guys to do a lot of stuff they should not have had to do and yet they did it.”

On Saturday, the Clippers simply could not keep up with the Nuggets as they had 36 assists on 53 field goals.

”The stat that jumps out at me was the fact that we had 36 assists, and eight turnovers,” Malone said. ”We actually had more assists than rebounds. I’ve never seen that before.”

Jamal Murray added 19 points and Wilson Chandler 13 for the Nuggets, who shot their second-best shooting percent (62.4) of the season.

”When the ball is moving around like it was tonight, and you’re able to shoot 62 percent, guys definitely made shots, but we passed up good shots to get great shots Eduardo Escobar Minnesota Twins Jersey ,” Malone said. ”The offense was obviously firing on all cylinders tonight.”

Leading 81-71, Barton hit a 3-pointer after the Nuggets grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds to ignite a 12-3 run that finished with Harris making the score 93-74 with 3:09 to play.

The Clippers never got closer than 12 points after that.

The victory was Denver’s first this season over the Clippers, who won the first two meetings, 109-104 at Staples Center on Jan. 17, and 122-120 in Denver on Feb. 27.

TIP-INS

Nuggets: Opened the game making 10 of 12 shots for a 21-13 lead with 4:41 left in the first quarter, finishing the quarter 15 of 21 for a 33-26 advantage.

Clippers: Lou Williams, the team’s leading scorer, was 0 for 7 in the first half, scoring eight points on free throws. His first basket, a 3-pointer, came with 7:04 left in the third with the Clippers down 80-66.

WEARY CLIPS

After the Clippers were badly beaten 117-95 by the Jazz in Utah on Thursday night, Doc Rivers gave his team the day off before playing the Nuggets.

”Watched film, watched the Masters, went out and played nine,” Rivers said. ”What can you do? We don’t have enough bodies in practice. You’ve got to get your mind ready.”

UP NEXT

Nuggets: Host the Portland Trailblazers on Monday night.

Clippers: Host the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Indiana Pacers have in front of them a playoff opponent who they beat in three of four games this season.

The No. 4 Cavs host the No. 5 Pacers in Game 1 of a first-round series Sunday.

“We all know the playoffs are a different ballgame,” Pacers guard Darren Collison said.

The Cavs swept the Pacers out of the first round last season. Both teams have changed so dramatically since that series so in a sense, little can be taken from it.

Where that line of thinking stalls, though, is at the feet of LeBron James.

James, arguably the most dominant player in the first round of the NBA playoffs, has won 21 games in a row in the opening round (an NBA record). He’s never lost a first-round series (12-0), nor even a Game 1 of any first round. The last time his team lost any game in the first round was May 6, 2012, when the Miami Heat lost by two to the New York Knicks in Game 4.

That series was over the next game.

“We do a great job of getting prepared,” said James, who’s averaging 29 points, 8.8 boards, and 6.9 assists in the first round. “And every team I’ve been on has always been prepared going into the first round of the postseason and I feel like we’re well prepared again.”

Paul George was the Pacers’ best player last season. He was traded to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo, who is now Indiana’s best player. He averaged career highs in points (23.1 per game), rebounds (5.2), and assists (4.3).

So if you’re trying to glean anything for this series from what happened in the regular season, don’t.

“They’re moving the basketball, getting up and down the court a little quicker, they’re shooting better as a team,” Indiana forward Thaddeus Young said of Cleveland. “I think they’re better with those things since the trades and they’ve got some really good pieces. But at the end of the day, they’re still a beatable team.”

“Both teams played good ball at times throughout the regular season,” James said. “Obviously their season, from the outside looking in, was more productive than ours because of what they went through in the offseason. But we went through a lot in the offseason as well. It’s a good matchup and we look forward to the challenge.”

The Cavs have been to the last three NBA Finals, but have only four players (James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and JR Smith) left from the 2016 title team. Four players — Cedi Osman, Zizic, Clarkson, and Nance — have never played a playoff game.

And for the first time in his career, Love will be Cleveland’s second scoring option in the playoffs instead of its third.

“We’re going to be a tough team to beat in four games,” Love said. “We have the best player in the world and a lot of guys that are hungry to go out and prove what they can do.”